Mastery
I would not have a god come inTo shield me suddenly from sin,And set my house of life to rights;Nor angels with bright burning wingsOrdering my earthly thoughts and things;Rather my own frail guttering lightsWind blown and nearly beaten out;Rather the terror of the nightsAnd long, sick groping after doubt;Rather be lost than let my soulSlip vaguely from my own control--Of my own spirit let me beIn sole though feeble mastery.
Words in this poem
- ordering n.
- Disposition; distribution; management. South.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Mastery is in the public domain. This text is taken from Love Songs, Project Gutenberg ebook #442; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sara Teasdale, Mastery, in Love Songs (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #442, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/teasdale-love-songs/mastery.html, id L08067.
Form and metre
Mastery is 13 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 84% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 46% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABCCBDBDEE-- inA · sinA · rightsB · wingsC · thingsC · lightsB · outD · nightsB · doubtD · soulE · controlE · be · mastery
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I would not have a god come in | 8 | ········ |
| To shield me suddenly from sin, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| And set my house of life to rights; | 8 | ········ |
| Nor angels with bright burning wings | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Ordering my earthly thoughts and things; | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Rather my own frail guttering lights | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Wind blown and nearly beaten out; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Rather the terror of the nights | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| And long, sick groping after doubt; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Rather be lost than let my soul | 8 | /˘······ |
| Slip vaguely from my own control-- | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Of my own spirit let me be | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In sole though feeble mastery. | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.